by JJ Lamb
She wanted to kiss it.
Holding the light to the ground, she could see where her footprints came from, where she’d fallen.
If she could only turn around and go back, find Harry, and run away. But that wasn’t going to happen. Rocky would be waiting for her. He’d kill her on the spot.
She couldn’t take the chance.
Even if he was gone, he could have locked her in the tunnel. She would still have to find a new way out.
Gina started moving in the same direction she’d been going.
* * *
Pete hustled Harry along with the stick, constantly poking him in the back. He knew it wouldn’t be long before the orderly made his move. Probably first beat the shit out of him just for the joy of it, then kill him. Or maybe knock him out, lock him up, and leave him to rot. Either way, he was going to be dead.
Pete’s Maglite led the way, giving off enough light to allow them to move rapidly through the tunnel. Harry tried to study the path, get a sense of where he was being taken. But his mind kept picturing Gina trapped somewhere underground. Every time he thought of her, he wanted to shout out her name. But he knew she couldn’t hear him.
The Maglite’s beam bounced off the walls, the ceiling, the ground. The mine was in terrible shape. Every step sent up a cloud of powdery dirt. He could see the deterioration of the splintered shoring in the ceiling and realized how close to collapse the passage must be. This was an old, old mine. It would be a miracle if it didn’t disintegrate around them just from the vibrations of their voices or their stomping around.
The orderly was slowing down and Harry spotted another Y in the distance. One of the entrances was only about three feet high. This had to be where Pete was taking him. He’d probably shove him in that hole and leave him. There was no more time to save himself. This was it?
In one fluid motion, Harry spun around, yanked the stick from Pete’s grip, and aimed the pointed end at his trachea. Pete’s legs gave way; a look of disbelief distorted his face. He tried to talk, but only high whistling sounds rode his rapid breath.
Harry had crushed his larynx.
Jeez, the guy’s an ox. What are you waiting for? Hit him again before he gets it together and kills you.
Harry looked at Pete’s stricken face.
Do it!
Pete was clutching the front of his neck, his eyes wide and terrified. He tried to get up, his high-pitched squeaks filling the tunnel with each attempt. But he couldn’t make it; he kept falling back. Harry knew the man would soon starve for oxygen and die; he was never going anywhere again.
Harry grabbed the Maglite from Pete’s hand, held it like a bat, and aimed for the orderly’s neck, thinking to finish him off with a final blow.
But he couldn’t do it. Couldn’t look in the man’s eyes. Couldn’t straight out kill him.
Instead, he grasped the flashlight and walked away.
Chapter 39
The pain in Rocky’s hand was vibrating up his arm; his groin felt as though someone had castrated him.
He limped back to the Y where the tunnels had split, slammed shut a heavy ceiling-to-floor metal gate on the right side and secured it with a heavy-duty padlock that was hanging open in the hasp. That would take care of the Mazzio bitch.
He started to limp away, but stopped and went back to the other branch of the Y; the one Pete had taken Harry down.
“Petey, are you in there?”
There was only an echo.
He slammed the rusted gate shut and locked it, too, but he screamed with pain from the jarring movements.
Gotta get outta here. Get some help.
The trip back to the elevator and up to Ethan’s office was excruciating. He limped into the room.
“What happened to you?” Ethan said, sitting at his desk.
Liking' this, aren't you? Nasty fucker.
Rocky held up his damaged hand. Ethan eyed the two misshapen, discolored fingers.
“You mean a woman did that to you?”
Rocky wanted to smash him in the mouth, but he’d probably end up with both hands fucked up.
“Forget about those two nurses,” Rocky said. “They’re finished. I locked the mine down. Ain’t no one coming out or going in without this.” He reached into his pocket with his good hand and pulled out a key.
“Where’s Pete?”
“Fuck Pete. My hand needs fixin’. Now!”
Ethan gave him a measured look—like he was buying a bull for breeding. “Maybe we better do that … fix those fingers before they swell up anymore. Or, if you want, I’ll take you down to the hospital in Carson.” Ethan shrugged. “It’s up to you.”
“God dammit! Do something now. Can’t you see I’m dying?”
* * *
“Why do we have to do it here?” Rocky said, looking around the lab. “All those things in the jars … nothing but weird shit.”
“This is where all the medical supplies are stored … don’t think it would be a good idea for the two of us to go puttering around in one of the second-floor units.” He raised Rocky’s injured hand. “Sit still and keep that arm elevated so your fingers don’t swell up anymore.”
“I’d like it better on one of the units. I don’t like lookin’ at those things … they give me the creeps.”
Ethan laughed, but he had that same indifferent look he’d had in the office. Rocky didn’t trust him.
Ethan pointed at the disgusting organs in the jars. “Think of it as a different sort of beauty all around us. The brain and its parts have an almost poetic, lyrical, rhythm of their own. Cerebellum … medulla oblongata … pons varolii. Don’t you think those words are almost musical?”
“Nothing pretty about that stuff … or those doctor words. I don’t wanna think about it.” Rocky looked away from the jars; he’d seen too much already. He sniffed at the air. “Smells like there was a fire in here.”
“I had to put out a fire. I was burning some papers and the flames almost got away from me.” Ethan was now rummaging through his small medicine cabinet. “But it worked out all right.”
He seemed to find what he was looking for, sat down, and pulled bottle of bourbon from a drawer. He poured a water glass half full, opened the bottle of pills, and dumped most of them into the liquor.
“What’s that? You ain’t planning on poisoning me, are you?”
“It will help the pain when I set your fingers.”
“Listen, old man: I’m not taking just anything you give me. Let me see that bottle! I don’t want you putting me down like you did all the others.”
Ethan brought the bottle of pills and held it up so Rocky could see the label: Morphine Sulfate 200 mgs. Rocky smiled when he read it.
“Awright! That ought to do it. And I could sure use a shot of booze, too, right about now anyways.”
“So what happened to Pete? I haven’t seen him since he took that male nurse away.” Ethan opened one of the drawers and brought out several tongue depressors and tape. “I’m worried about him.”
“Petey can take care of himself.” He was getting tired of holding his hand up, but it did seem to ease the throbbing. “That puny man-nurse ain’t gonna give him much trouble.”
“Did you say you locked up the mine shaft where he took Harry?”
Rocky was starting to have second thoughts about having locked down that mine. “I called out … he didn’t answer.”
Ethan was looking at him in that funny way again. “Do you suppose you locked him in?”
Rocky thought about it. “Oh, shit! I was hurting so damn much, guess I didn’t think it out.”
Ethan nodded. “It will only take a short time to fix those two fingers. So let’s clean your hand first, then we’ll go check on Pete.”
“Ain’t you gonna give me that morphine? Shit! I really need it, man.”
“As soon as we clean your hand,” Ethan said.
Rocky was really worried now. He needed to get back to that mine and let Pete out if he was locked in.
Ethan finished washing off his hand.
“How about that drink now?” Rocky said, motioning at the glass with his head.
“Let me just get everything ready.” Ethan moved the supplies to a tray, rolled it next to Rocky, and handed him the morphine concoction. “Down the hatch, Rocky.”
The pills had dissolved; Rocky swallowed the mixture in two huge gulps. It seared its way down his throat, and landed like lava in his stomach.
Ethan moved very quickly now. He pressed the two injured fingers together and splinted both sides with the tongue blades, then wrapped tape around them. It couldn’t have taken him more than a couple of minutes. His fingers felt like he was in a cast.
“How’s that? Better?” Ethan said.
Rocky’s hand still hurt like hell—the morphine hadn’t kicked in yet. He got up from the chair, but his legs were weak and he was lightheaded.
“Let’s go find Pete,” Ethan said.
Chapter 40
Emma Goldmich was filled with hope. The nurse, Gina, had brought her only child back into her life. Now, if only she could live to see her one more time.
Where is she? How is she doing? Will I hear from her again soon?
It was difficult to focus on anything else.
She fingered her locket, the one with Tuva’s picture inside; just touching it made her feel better. She opened it and looked at her daughter’s image, then closed it again. Open, close, open, close.
For the first time she noticed that the hospital floor seemed unusually quiet. On most days, Rocky would come in and out of her room to taunt her with nasty, hate-filled words about old people.
Old … useless. Why don’t you just die, you old bitch?
Mean words that always made her feel less than human. But even he wasn’t around today. Now that she thought about it, she hadn’t seen him all day. Not that she missed him, but the silence was strange, disorienting.
She was starting to lose focus again. She repeated her name over and over, tried to make herself think constructively.
Emma, Emma, Emma.
She forced herself to roll from side to side on her bed; repeated her name again.
Emma, Emma, Emma, Emma.
The movement caused terrible pain, but the more she moved, the better she felt. After a while, the pain eased.
Had she only imagined that Gina brought a letter from her daughter? Had Tuva really written to her? Had it really happened?
Was it true that the administrator had kept Tuva’s letters from her? Why would he do such a terrible thing? Questions and more questions.
Delores was talking outside her room. She was talking to someone whose voice Emma didn’t recognize.
“Something’s going on,” Delores said. “The administrator doesn’t usually poke his head in here.”
“Heck,” the stranger’s voice said, “anyplace I’ve ever worked, we usually can’t get rid of them.”
“Well,” Delores said, “we better give these shots. This ought to knock them out. They’ll all sleep pretty good after this.”
Emma didn’t like Delores, but she especially didn’t like the way she was talking tonight. Emma wasn’t going to take a shot. She’d refuse. No matter how much pain she had, she wouldn’t take it.
Then Delores was next to her bed.
“Time for your shot, Emma.”
“I don’t want it! Leave me alone.” Emma started scooting away from the nurse to the other side of the bed. She kept her rump flat against the mattress.
“Now I don’t want to be mean to you, Emma, but you’re getting this shot … like it or not!”
She grabbed Emma’s arm, pulled her back near her, roughly pushed aside her clothes, and jabbed hard with the needle.
“You’ll get a good sleep, Emma.” And with that, the nurse left the room.
Tears rolled down Emma’s face. She refused to think about Delores. Instead, she closed her eyes and visualized her daughter. In a few minutes she started to doze and was floating away, doing things with Tuva.
The two of them were in a narrow hallway and it was very, very dark. She could barely see where they were going. Tuva’s movements were slow and sluggish. She was in trouble. Some kind of trouble.
“Stop! Don’t go there! Tuva! We have to go back!”
Tuva let out a piercing scream and fell into a black hole. She watched from above and saw herself drop down after her daughter.
She sat up in bed; her body screamed in pain from the sudden movement.
“Help my daughter! Someone help her!”
* * *
Tuva groaned and tried to turn but she couldn’t move—some invisible force kept her flat on her back.
Snippets of visions came and went, along with shadowy people who appeared and disappeared as they floated through her head.
One time she was in a hospital, lying on a stretcher. Harsh male voices were above and around her. They kept speaking her name, talking back and forth about her. She could see herself, half awake, trying to catch a glimpse of them. But her head became heavy and she fell back. The men became blurry phantoms again. She needed to concentrate, but each time she almost grabbed onto what the men were saying, even understand a sentence, she’d drift off and the scene would change. Now, in a new vision, the same people, with the same voices, were pushing, shoving her around. When they lifted her and carried her, every part of her body ached.
With a suddenness that made her head spin, she was tossed into the air, then landed hard on her back.
She screamed as something stabbed into her flesh.
Then everything went black.
* * *
Tuva opened her eyes. She was wide awake now; she tried to remember what had happened to her. She’d come into the building where her mother was supposed to be and the administrator had taken her into his office. He’d stepped out and someone grabbed her from behind, covered her face, A strong-smelling chemical had burned its way through her nose and mouth. After that, everything went blank until she woke up here.
Now every inch of her body felt beaten.
She couldn’t see very well, was still trying to adjust to the very dim light. She rubbed hard at her eyes, turned to look around, and stared into two empty eye sockets, and a gaping hole where a nose should have been.
Tuva screamed, then over and over until no sound escaped her mouth.
She tried to back away, move away from those empty eyes, but kept sinking lower with every movement. Dead people kept closing in until she was caught between shifting bodies and splintered bones. She was trapped in a huge pit … a pit with sheered-off walls, and a top that was way, way above her.
Frantic, she tried to sit up, but pieces of decapitated skulls kept rolling onto and over her. Everything was moving like an ocean wave filled with putrid, rotting bodies. Soon she would go down and drown in this terrible pit.
She yelled at the top of her lungs.
“Let me out! I have to get out! Please let me out!”
She took a step and started to fall. Then the lights blinked and went out.
Chapter 41
By the time they got to the tunnel, Rocky was stumbling; his legs didn’t want to work right; they got heavier and heavier. Ethan was poking at him, shouldering him to keep him upright and going.
Man, that morphine’s strong. Can’t even feel my feet no more. Shit! Ain’t complaining. At least the fuckin’ pain’s gone.
Rocky’s mind kept wandering, thinking back. He saw himself in Montana … the sky a pretty blue. He hadn’t thought about that for a long time. It distracted him and he stopped to look at his fingers. They looked strange. Blue fingers? Well, the tips were blue … or were they purple? Couldn’t see the rest. They were wrapped with those flat sticks and tape. Oh, yeah, tongue blades.
Tongue blades on fingers don’t seem right.
Blades of green grass. That’s where blades belonged.
Blades of grass.
He was runnin’ across a grassy meadow, Pete
y was right behind him … they were little boys. And there was that big hill comin’ ... their legs were pumping, they were panting so hard.
Stop it, Petey! Stop pushing me!
He turned.
“Ethan?”
“Keep moving, Rocky!”
Ethan was panting in his ear, working hard to hold Rocky up. “You know, Rocky … haven’t really had a chance to thank you … and Pete … for everything you’ve done for me … without the two of you … I’d never have been able … to bring this whole thing off.”
Rocky thought those were strange sounding words. “What thing off?”
“You know, taking care of the patients … making sure the nurses stayed in line.”
“You mean bumping off them half-dead suckers?” Rocky barked out a laugh. “Ain't much different from killin’ a chicken.”
Made Rocky think how he wanted to do a thing or two to Ethan. The man kept forcing him along when all he wanted to do was crash for a while.
As soon as I get Petey out of the mine, we’ll take care of the bastard. Hell, maybe I didn’t even lock my buddy Petey in there. Maybe he’s out front waiting for me right now, waiting to go get a brewsky.
“Ha.” He wanted to laugh, but it turned into a soft mutter. Petey go back without him? Nah, he’d have to carry on about takin’ out the male nurse, making a big thing out of it, especially since that nurse almost beat the shit out of him.
Yeah, I must have locked him in. Poor boob.
He stopped and started laughing, an uncontrollable roar. That was pretty funny. “I locked Petey in the mine. Wow, what a fuckin’ stupid thing to do. He’s gonna be pissed at me.”
“Yes, I suppose he will be,” Ethan said.
Rocky’s head felt funny, like it was lifting off his shoulders. He was pretty damn high—so high, his heart was trying to fight its way out of his chest, sweat was dripping off his hands.
I’m sweating like a pig.
He continued laughing, going on and on until he couldn’t stop.
